Hi all,
It was suggested I post the information about building my solar kiln. Perhaps it will help someone. I'll do my best to answer your questions so ask away.
I needed to dry 200 bf of locally harvested Northern Red Oak. I decided to build a solar kiln after quite a bit of research.
It is particle board -- and framed with 1 X 6's, double walled with insulation R-11 between. There is a 45° slope to the roof of corrugated plastic something..... You can make greenhouses out of it???? There is a layer of rolled, clear plastic stapled to the inside of the roof to help create more heat.
There are eight layers of eight foot lumber with stickers ever 24". There are three boards to a layer. Granite counter top cutouts add weight on the ends with two box fans on top for circulation. It is all painted with several coats of flat black latex paint both inside and out....
You aren't seeing strange things.... I have no level spots in my yard so it leans just a tad. The kiln is 6' high, 3 1/2' deep and 10' long. For that 10 feet in order to level the kiln it would have to be raised on the downhill side by about 24". Said nope to that since rough sawn lumber is not going to slide downhill on the stickers. I'm into energy conservation.... my energy.
We started out with a nice set of plans from Virginia Tech then made changes as we went along or messed up.
We put a charge in it last week but don't expect it to be done till early May. For charges put in between May and September it should take about three weeks. I was quite surprised that we got about 180 bf into that little kiln.
There will be some adjustments made next spring. We were working against the calendar and the weather. We would work for a day or two then it would rain for a week.
In the meanwhile maybe one of my kids will get me a moisture content meter for Christmas. We'll be shooting for about 6% moisture content.
So there it is, such as it is. As long as it does the job.....
Today reached a high of about 45° air temp. Inside the kiln it reached a high of 67°. I love it when a plan comes together.
Thanks for checkin out my solar kiln.